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The purpose of the paper is to look at the relationship between attitudes toward direct‐to‐consumer (DTC) advertising and its impact on consumer requests for a particular drug.

A sample of 154 consumers completed the survey on‐site at a pharmacy while waiting for their prescription(s) to be filled. Based on exploratory research (focus groups), survey items were developed to capture opinions of pharmaceutical advertising as well as the influence of DTC advertising on consumer behavior.

The findings show that consumers are skeptical of DTC advertising and believe that not enough information is provided about these products. Despite the high level of exposure and the opinions that these ads were effective and informative, few respondents believed that the ads motivated them to request these drugs or put them on a more equal footing with their physician.

The results provide useful information to policy makers, drug companies and researchers. Even though consumers appear to be critical of DTC advertising oversight, these ads appear to motivate consumers to seek more knowledge about drugs or medical conditions mentioned in the ads and request prescriptions from physicians.

This research fills an identified gap in the literature on DTC advertising and its impact on consumer decision making. Limited research has been done on the relationship between consumer perceptions of DTC advertising and its impact on consumer requests for pharmaceutical products.

The purpose of this study is to explore the knowledge, beliefs and attitudes surrounding prescription opioid medications of community living older adults in southeast North Carolina.

A cross-sectional, descriptive, anonymous survey design of participants aged 55 or over was used.

Study participants (N = 119) reported bias in their attitudes and beliefs about the use and misuse of prescription opioid medications. Multiple regression analyses revealed that gender, age, work, marital status and education level all had significant results in explaining variance in the statistical models. Even though study participants demonstrated high levels of education and understanding of the potential of addiction to opiates, there were a number of misconceptions about prescription pain medications revealed.

There is a dearth of studies looking at older adults’ knowledge, beliefs and attitudes about prescription pain medications. This urges the necessity of increased awareness via further research, presentations and creative discourse to assist in the understanding of precursors of addiction and ways to deal with pain that do not automatically depend on prescription opioid medicines. Implications include outreach to a larger and more diverse sample to address knowledge, beliefs and attitudes surrounding prescription opioid medications of community living older adults in southeast North Carolina and beyond.

The purpose of this paper is to review empirical research on direct‐to‐consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs published in journals over the period from 1997 to 2012.

A structured review of 130 published studies on direct‐to‐consumer advertising of prescription drugs was conducted.

Based on the structured review, the authors identified seven key research themes in DTCA. These are: consumers' attitudes toward direct‐to‐consumer advertising, physician‐patient interaction, content of DTC advertisements, awareness, literacy and memory, consumer information source and search, effect of DTCA expenditures on financial performance, and physicians' attitudes toward DTCA.

Avenues for future research are proposed. Future research needs to focus on more empirical studies, television DTCA, online and emerging media DTCA, new and improved measures, ethical issues and regulations, diverse countries, and nurse and pharmacist attitudes towards DTCA.

The primary contribution of this paper is a thorough understanding of the state‐of‐the‐art in research on DTCA and future research directions.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that influence the behavioral intention (BI) of paratransit passengers in three major cities in Indonesia, namely Bandung, Medan, and Surabaya. More specifically, this paper will examine the relationship between the BI and other factors, including satisfaction (SAT), perceived sacrifice (SAC), perceived value (PV), service quality (SQ), and frequency of usage.

The empirical data were collected through a survey with 264 respondents. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the proposed hypotheses.

SQ affects word-of-mouth (WOM) of paratransit passengers directly and indirectly through PV. However, SQ has no statistically significant direct effects on repurchase intention. SAC is proved to affect WOM and repurchase intention of paratransit passengers indirectly via PV. In addition, it is also found that SAT and frequency of usage have no statistically significant effect on WOM and repurchase intention of paratransit passengers.

The data collection using convenience sampling method as well as the use of small sample size caused the limitation of the research results in representing across all paratransit passengers in the three cities where the research was conducted in. This study can be replicated with larger sample size in order to examine the stability of the results in other contexts.

The research results shows that sacrifice, SQ, and PV affect the BI of paratransit passengers. Thus, the management of paratransit service provider should consider and manage all of these factors proactively.

The paper has established a BI model of public transport passengers that can help organizations to manage the formation of BI of their passengers. The model has some novelties, which are first, the model includes frequency of usage, second, it uses BI as a multidimensional construct, consisting of repurchase intention and WOM, rather than a single dimensional construct, and third, it also includes the direct relationship between SAC and BI (repurchase intention and WOM).

The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual model that intends to identify the determinants and consequences of brand credibility, specifically in the pharmaceutical industry.

The hypotheses developed according to the proposed model were tested through an online questionnaire and answered by 225 individuals from Portugal.

The results show that the credibility of brand communication, perceived quality and brand familiarity are the key components that contribute most to the creation of a credible brand. Regarding consequences, this study confirms that, in the face of a credible brand, consumers are more willing to repeat the purchase, to pay more for it and to promote their opinion among other consumers.

This research innovates by presenting, for the first time, a conceptual model of brand credibility specific to the non-prescription medicines market, thus contributing to a better understanding of this issue by companies and brand managers of the pharmaceutical industry.

The paper's aim is to measure the effect of various brief summary formats on consumers' drug‐related knowledge, evaluations of ad information, ad believability, attitudes towards the ad and brand, perceived product risk and intention to use ad information in making healthcare decisions.

Using mall‐intercept surveys, 307 US women, age 18‐50 years, were randomly assigned to one of the six different versions of brief summary formats for a birth control medicine. The six brief summary formats included: no brief summary, traditional (continuous prose) brief summary, risk information window, bulleted list, nutrition facts panel, and question‐answer format. The participants completed a closed‐ended questionnaire after reviewing the print ad.

MANOVA indicated presence of a multivariate main effect. However, univariate ANOVAs, performed to evaluate the effect of individual formats, revealed that the eight outcome variables did not vary significantly across the six brief summary formats. Nevertheless, respondents exhibited more positive evaluation of the newer brief summary formats compared to the traditional brief summary format, albeit there was no statistically significant difference among the newer formats.

Consumers clearly prefer newer brief summary formats to the traditional brief summary format.

This research provides additional insights about risk communication in direct‐to‐consumer ads and may assist the FDA in the development of a standardized regulatory structure for the future. Providing brief summary in a clearer, understandable, and consumer‐friendly manner can help consumers in deciding whether the drug is appropriate for their condition.

The purpose of this study is to examine the politics, political economy, and fallout of hawkish regulatory policy on prescription drugs in Nigeria. Hawkish regulatory policy on prescription drug in Nigeria, such as opioid analgesics, is a very complex and multifaceted one, which usually involves the interplay of many factors and parties.

Policy manuals, official government gazettes (legislations, regulations, Acts and decrees), academic literature and a direct ethnographic observation of events surrounding the regulation of prescription drugs were reviewed and engaged.

The results revealed that Nigerian and global political economy and politics interface to define the direction of the new restrictive opioid policy, with resultant friction between prohibition and consumption. The reviews showed that the overarching “get-tough” and “repressive” policy are not necessarily founded on empirical evidence of an increase in prescription drug sales or use, but more as a product of the interplay of both internal and external politics and the prevailing socioeconomic order.

Instead of borrowing extensively from or being influenced by repressive Western drug laws and perspectives, Nigerian policymakers on prescription opioids should take control of the process by drawing up a home-grown policy that is less intrusive and punitive in nature for better outcomes. A mental sea change is required to understand the intrigues of Western power in Nigeria’s politics and political economy to avoid the continuous symptomatic failure of drug policy.

The politics and economic influence of the United Nations, USA and Western powers, as well as the axiom of moral panic of prescription drugs scares within the Nigerian environment, are particularly significant in the making of the emerging hawkish policy on prescription drugs in Nigeria.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the differential effects of help-seeking and product-claim direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) on consumers’ attitude toward the ad, intention to seek information and intention to see a doctor. This paper also seeks to examine the underlying mechanism of these effects and the moderating role of advertising literacy.

An online experiment was conducted with 130 adults who experienced narcolepsy symptoms and experimental stimuli promoting a fictitious drug for narcolepsy.

Help-seeking DTCA generated lower persuasion knowledge activation than product-claim DTCA, resulting in lower skepticism, more favorable attitude toward the ad and higher behavioral intentions. The effects of ad type were stronger among consumers with higher advertising literacy.

This is the first study that provides a thorough examination of the underlying mechanism of the differential effects of help-seeking vs product-claim DTCA as well as the roles of consumers’ advertising literacy on ad outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to better understand the effectiveness of direct‐to‐consumer advertising (DTCA) by examining consumer perceptions of persuasive intent and informativeness associated with product‐claim and help‐seeking advertisements, respectively.

In three behavioral experiments, a total of 413 participants provided data on their behavioral intentions and attitudes towards DTCA.

Consumers perceived help‐seeking DTCA as being highly informative without persuasive intent, whereas they perceived product‐claim DTCA as having high‐persuasive intent with little informativeness. Help‐seeking (versus product‐claim) DTCA was more effective in generating stronger behavioral intention to seek treatment for the ailments advertised (i.e. clinical depression and migraine). Consumer perceptions of persuasive intent and informativeness of DTCA were the underlying mediators for this result.

The paper helps to resolve conflicting findings in the previous DTCA research by proposing and presenting evidence which suggests that the perceived persuasive intent and informativeness of the advertised message are two underlying constructs that drive DTCA effectiveness. Considering these two constructs in future research may provide a deeper understanding of how and why DTCA effectiveness varies across different types of DTCA.

The results provide useful information for pharmaceutical companies seeking to maximize DTCA effectiveness in increasing behavioral intention to seek treatment for an advertised disease. Considering the key findings, pharmaceutical companies may decide whether and to what extent to employ product‐claim or help‐seeing DTCA.

The paper is one of the first to comparatively examine consumer perceptions of the two different types of DTCA (product‐claim versus help‐seeking) in terms of their influence on behavioral intent to seek treatment for the advertised medical conditions.

Launching a new product successfully in a multi-brand portfolio is one of the major challenges a pharmaceutical marketer faces. This study aims to examine the role of detailing of new brands on physicians’ prescription behaviour as compared to established brands. Further, the study explores mediating role of detailing priority and detailing time on the relationship between detailing of new versus established brands and physician’s prescription behaviour.

This study was conducted as a real-world observational study involving field research. In total, 338 physicians, 90 PSRs and 44 field managers participated in this study. A serial mediation model (Hayes, Model 6) was used to examine the relationship. Regression analysis with bootstrapping was used to test the hypotheses.

Detailing of new versus established brands has a differential effect on physicians’ prescription behaviour. In addition, this relationship is serially mediated by detailing priority and detailing time.

Results suggest that detailing priority and detailing time positively and significantly alter the relationship between the detailing of new brands and physicians’ prescription behaviour as compared to established brands. While, in the absence of mediators, established brands generate higher prescriptions than new brands, the serial mediating effect helps new brands to generate more prescriptions as compared to established brands.

This research highlights the importance of detailing priority and detailing time for the successful launch of the new products. It presents compelling evidence for practicing managers to effectively use a “predetermined detailing plan” vis-à-vis “individualized detailing strategy” during the launch of a new brand.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the role of detailing priority and detailing time as mediators between the relationship of detailing and physicians’ prescription behaviour. This is also one of the rare studies to use real-world observational study methodology for conducting research.